


Effort of the Tempest

by poisonedapple



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 22:30:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7951672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonedapple/pseuds/poisonedapple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For all of Vox Machina's needless traipsing about the Feywild, it helped to mend the rift in Percy and Keyleth's relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Effort of the Tempest

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote most of this in July, right after episode 60 came out, and then stuff came up. Episode 61 retconned them camping but I don't care any more. Anyway, this takes place at the beginning of 61 and I'm fudging a bit when they camped but they did too so anyway.
> 
> Some references to the Aesop's Fable The Oak and The Reed

It wasn't unusual for Percy enter the All-Purpose room in Scanlan's mansion and find Keyleth already in it and reading. All too often the others of their party would take over the other common areas of the mansion and make a ruckus, often by Scanlan and Grog's revelry or either of the twin's moodiness that he and Keyleth found themselves on the wrong end of all too often, and it made for the perfect refuge.

What was unusual was that Keyleth had neglected to sit upon any of the moderately comfortable lounging chairs in the room, but rather had chosen to spread on her back like a starfish in the center of the floor. Percy had been ambushed by Keyleth on quite a few occasions, as she begged for council on something more than a few times since they'd met – though not so much lately – but she usually was much nosier about it, clutched to his arm and gasping in the throes of anxiety. Still, Percy understood Keyleth well enough and he stepped over her gangly arms and legs to reach his desk, careful not to trod on her.

Before he gave Keyleth his undivided attention that she certainly would demand momentarily, he wanted to take a closer look at the jewelry crafting tools he'd picked up in Sygorn. There hadn't appeared to be anything special about the tools when he'd first took them, apart from half the tools being missing, but Percy couldn't help but hope that there would be something… _Fey_ about them if he studied at them well enough. He was sure that Keyleth would alert him when she was ready to speak.

A half hour passed before Percy was satisfied there was nothing magic about them, though some of the tools were a bit different from the ones he was used to – likely in order to craft specific Elven aesthetics. There was nothing totally remarkable about the differences, but still endlessly fascinating to Percy at the very least. They'd be useful for future projects he had in mind for down the line.

Percy hoped that he would get a chance to take a closer look at Vex's music box, perhaps even open it up and try and take it apart and put it back together, later. He'd have to ask her to lend it to him first and Percy would like to wait until Vex was in the right mood for that. He hoped Keyleth would tell him if there was anything special about her tobacco box when she got a closer look at it.

Speaking of – Keyleth let out a long, plaintive breath, not particularly loudly but it panged him with the reminder of the times Ludwig would sigh noisily at him in hopes of gaining his attention while Percy dutifully ignored his younger brother.

Percy carefully pocketed his new jewelers kit and turned to Keyleth. He considered her silently, attempting to puzzle out the right question to unlock precisely what was wrong and get to the root of the problem, rather than allow Keyleth to ramble her way around the subject.

“And what are you meant to be doing, Keyleth?”

“I'm doing nothing,” she answered immediately, like she'd prepared the answer. “I'm touching nothing. I'll never say, do, or touch anything. Ever again.”

“Right,” said Percy, narrowing his eyes at her. So this was about the Fey wildlife she'd managed to agitate. He would have in be delicate in whatever he said, otherwise he could make everything much worse. “Not sure that'll help anything.”

“Exactly. Maybe if I lay really still and stop helping, I'll stop breaking everything.” Her mouth parted to say more, but she stopped herself from continuing but the distress showed clearly on her face.

Percy suppressed a chuckle (she'd take take it the wrong way if she heard) and instead breathed from his nose. He sat on the floor beside her, feeling a bit awkward. She didn't sit up, though she did shuffle just a bit closer to him. Percy hesitated before deciding it would be best not to shift his hand from where it was braced against the floor, his fingertips tickled by her hair.

“The two of us haven't really had the best introduction to the Feywild, have we?” Percy said when it didn't seem like Keyleth was going to say what she had stopped herself from saying. “Me, blinded five minutes into coming here. Granted, frolicking first moment I got here was a mistake.” If it were anyone else but Keyleth he would never admit that he had indeed been frolicking. But it was Keyleth and there were certain things he trusted with her, like how she made the perfect shield whenever he needed to smother his laughter (or, fine – giggling, it was just him and Keyleth in the room after all and he could only admit that much even just to himself) into her hair, when Vox Machina's antics got to be too much.

“I'm sure you would have been fine if I hadn't joined you,” Keyleth said, her voice sardonic. Percy winced – she was spending too much time with Vax with these theatrics. She'd be monologing next.

“I encouraged you,” he said and she sighed in malcontent. “Well, I did tell you picking the flower was a mistake... and touching that bone wasn't your brightest idea,” Percy added after come careful consideration and Keyleth winced and shriveled a bit, not unlike the flowerbed from which she'd picked her flower from. “But I don't think any of us expected the grass to turn on us. And it all turned out alright, Trinket even gained some useful abilities from our last ordeal and I had a successful flirtation, even if it was only grass.” Percy grins at the last bit – thoroughly ridiculous as speaking with the grass had been, it was an experience he could only ever have had in the Feywild in Vox Machina's company. “I don't think you've apologized, for your part in Nala blinding me, you know.”

“Yes, I have, a few times,” Keyleth said, even as she frowned in thought. “Or maybe I just thought about a lot and forgot to say it out loud. Because I did… I am sorry, very sorry… For what it's worth Percy.”

Percy grinned wrly, patting her shoulder with his hand. “That is what I thought.”

“It was just… I guess I just thought… we've been so cross with each other lately and then for just a moment we were getting along. Like we used to. And maybe if I admitted to doing something wrong, then you'd be upset with me again. So I guess I tried to deny it. Sorry.” Keyleth moved subtly into his hand, but otherwise she didn't move but for her mouth.

“You…,” Percy started after spending minutes watching the Arcane candlelight in Scanlan's mansion flickering and the light dancing on Keyleth's sharp cheekbones. “No, we did very well together with the Threshold Cress.” It was a statement of fact, not an appeasement because they really had done very well together.

“It was all your idea, I just had the magic,” Keyleth responded and then she shrugged away his hand. Percy frowned.

Keyleth had been right, when she'd said they'd been growing apart – it had started somewhere between the stand-off with the skull and their disagreement with The Clasp. Until they'd stepped into the Feywild, Percy told himself that it didn't matter and that he didn't really need her companionship. Grateful as he was for what she and the rest of Vox Machina had done for him with the Briarwoods, he hadn't felt he actually _needed_ their friendship to feel whole. Frolicking and scheming together, though, as they had done in the past two days reminded him just how much better off he was when he had her to snicker with and marvel over things over.

“I couldn't have done it with anyone else but you,” he told her honestly. Making plans with the rest of Vox Machina was… an experience. They could make as many plans as they wanted to, argue as much as they wanted as they attempted to hammer out the details – it never seemed to matter because half-way through they'd be flying by the seat of their pants when unknown variables cropped up. Which could be delightful, in its own way and Percy would certainly enjoy it when his and Scanlan's aspiration to steal an airship came to fruition (though doubtlessly all plans they'd put into place beforehand would fall through but so long as they got their airship Percy would be content). Still, there was a marked difference in the amount of strategy that went into planning with Vox Machina and scheming against a schemer as he and Keyleth had just done, a difference in brain and brawn that Vox Machina as a whole didn't usually appreciate. The rush was just as great but even greater when shared with someone that could recognize a good scheme without resorting to fists.“Wouldn't have been nearly as fun.”

She looked at him skeptically, hair scattered behind her on the floor.

He looked back at her with unconvinced eyes and told her, “I know what you're doing, you know.”

“Uh,” she said, eyebrows furrowing. “I mean, I just told you. I was laying here. Doing nothing. Going to do nothing for forever. So, of course you know? I mean...”

“I mean, I know you're doing your best to stop hesitating, as you have done in the past. Speaking up, saying your piece and making certain the we hear listen to you and not just hear and placate. Don't think I haven't noticed the times you held your tongue.” She looked a bit surprised and Percy chuckled. “I do try to keep as close an eye as I can on everyone, in our little family. Make sure everyone's intentions are what they say they are.” Percy adds when Keyleth looks at him a bit wounded, “It's my nature to doubt and be prudent. And you, Keyleth, are an open book.”

Keyleth gasps and looks even more wounded, which does nothing to disprove him.

“We'll work on it, together,” he tells her patiently. “A good poker face is a great advantage in any discourse you might have in the future.” In the past, Percy had never said anything when he caught Keyleth holding her tongue because he thought her principles might impede Vox Machina's objectives. However it was becoming quite clear as of late that Keyleth would make the perfect obstruction, should Percy ever stray from a good path. Vax was and would do quite well in the short-term, but was unsuitable for Percy to rely on for the long-term. Vax was sentimental and however unpredictable he was, he would surely want to make amends at some point and Percy would only be able to dissuade him for so long. Keyleth only needed a little grooming for it, which Percy could easily do, and then she would make a wonderful antithesis that Percy thought he would likely need in the future, one that could subdue him if it came to it.

He'd have to ease her into the role of course and he wasn't going to tell her yet, but everything he planned to help her with would suit her plans for the future just the same, whether or not she'd accept her role. She was already learning from him, unintentionally on his part initially, but she was thinking bad thoughts, trying to draw connections.

“There's a learning curve, for this sort of thing. Learning to think on your feet – making the right choices quickly and completing them efficiently.” Keyleth was listening to him intently, head tilted to face him, eyes narrowed, watching his mouth, and fingers twitching in the carpet. “I have confidence, that you Keyleth, out of all of our motley friends, will learn to make the best calculated risks and make them the right ones with the least casualties even if it isn't the easiest choice. But you'll only learn to do so if you keep trying, keep acting. The Feywild is as dangerous as it is beautiful, but it's as good a place for you to practice so long as you remember your mistakes and learn from them.”

Keyleth didn't say anything for a long while, absorbing everything Percy had just told her and he didn't interrupt her thoughts. The candlelight made the shadow cast by her eyelashes tremble on her cheeks.

“ _The Oak and the Reed_ – it's a human story. You've heard of it, I assume?”

Percy did not even raise an eyebrow at the abrupt change of subject – Keyleth did it often enough. “Yes, I have actually. I read it as a boy actually. About the strength of oak trees, falling to the might of the wind and the flexible reed surviving. 'The moral being 'it is better to bend than to break,' that story?”

“Yes,” Keyleth said. “It's actually loosely based on Ashari lore, about the Headmaster. The Reed and the Oak are actually just a few of the characters that symbolize those that are not part of the Ashari.”

“I was actually not aware of that,” Percy said, intrigued and ready to hear the story.

“Yeah, well… Y'see…,” Keyleth fidgeted a bit and for a moment it looked like she was going to sit up so she could talk with him easier but she didn't. Percy sighed and laid back himself – the floor was uncomfortable and he felt a bit stupid but it was easier to talk with her this way and her lips quirked at the corners into a half smile before she continued. “As the Headmaster, one of my duties will be to maintain balance in the world… such as sowing the seeds and caring for both the oaks and reeds… and the weeds as well, as they are all necessary for balance. Only ever destroying that which disturbs the balance, y'know?”

Percy nodded, listening to her.

“Air and wind spreads seeds, dispersing them far and wide… That is the duty of the Air Ashari… Likewise, the Water Ashari feeds the land with water and the Earth Ashari cultivate and harvest the land. Even the Fire Ashari, with their fire, have the duty and ability kill disease that plague the land and enrich dying soil by burning it. All of the Ashari are responsible to facilitate growth, especially the Headmaster, but as you probably know – we can also kill and destroy it, to blight the land. And sometimes it's necessary, as I said, for the balance of the world. But the original story, the one your _The Oak and the Reed_  fable is adapted from, is a cautionary tale. To not become the tornado or the tidal wave or the earthquake or the forest fire… or even the tempest as in your story, an unnatural natural disaster that wrecks the entire world. To not abuse the powers that I have and will some day have.

“Do you remember what I told you guys? About the death vision I had while I was with the Earth Tribe?”

“Bit hard to forget,” Percy told darkly her with a frown. He and the rest of Vox Machina had had a few quick discussions, without Keyleth, on the wisdom of seeking out this cancerous tree as well as her relationship with the Sun Tree, as they were not certain how literal to interpret Keyleth's dream and if certain situations could invoke it. Vex, in particular, was wringing her hands in worry as the one they were fetching Fenthras for. It seemed Keyleth was unaware of their own doubts and Percy was not going to enlighten her as she likely had more doubts than any of them concerning her future.

Keyleth seemed a bit surprised though, eyes widening.

“You know… I just realized… I mean, sometimes, the others… they've laughed about… _it_ ,” Keyleth says and Percy knows what she means by _it_.

“I'm hardly going to dredge up anyone else's mistakes and regrets.”

“I mean… I'd started thinking it was… well, normal. For friends to do that.” Keyleth frowned, doubtful.

“I'm hardly the one to ask what's normal with friends,” he said with a wry smile.

“I'm sorry,” Keyleth gushed. “About how I brought up… those things. _Your_ regrets and mistakes and the fights we've had when you have never. I, I… It feels awful, when I'm reminded, when my friends are laughing at the one thing that haunts my every action.”

“I'd be much obliged… You were saying…” Percy said to gently nudge her back on topic.

“Oh! Right… just… The oak… And the me in the dream… The tree me… But that's what I was… the Oak. Well I wasn't an _oak_ tree in the dream, but well yeah, I was the Oak. Unwilling to bend, unwilling to move and take action out of fear. Out of fear of being the Tempest.”

“I see,” said Percy.

“I just can't find the right balance, between being the Oak and the Tempest… I don't know... Maybe I'm not suited, to be the Headmaster. I just keep making the wrong choices and breaking everything.

Percy sighed and sat and glanced back at her. Perhaps she wasn't laying on the ground like a starfish, but like a felled tree. “Keyleth. Sit _up,_ ” he instructed her sharply.

She only hesitated a moment before obeying him, sitting up so fast she looked a bit light-headed.

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly after a moment. “I mean, I know you just told me I'd have to practice and I'd get better. But I have been trying this entire time and I've completed three fourths of my Aremente and I can't help feeling like all I've learned is how to destroy things, not how to foster my people. I should be ready, or almost ready, to undertake my duties by now.” Her hands twist together in distress. A part of him knew that he could put his hand over hers and it would comfort her and the hand closest to her twitched in his lap to do so but he stopped himself.

“Keyleth, if there's one thing that I do understand, it is the huge undertaking it is to be responsible for your people. It's a lot to manage and you're going to make mistakes, even after you formally take up the reigns of leadership. People will get hurt, sometimes as result of your choices, because people will always get hurt. You never stop learning how to best serve your people, not really. But you'll have a longer time than most do to get it right. It is not a privilege or a right, to govern people no matter how the power to do so is passed on. It is something you earn and to earn anything you have to _act_. You earn nothing by not doing anything, though certainly doing nothing is a valid choice at times – doing nothing because you think the choice is better made without is not. Sometimes you might make the wrong choice, one that harms people. And some people will hate you for it, but it is your duty to command your people and control what is yours to control for their benefit.”

Keyleth sighed, sidling away just a bit. “I don't know… Thank you, Percy, but I don't know if that's the kind of leader I want to be… Maybe I really not suited to be Headmaster.”

“I don't know Keyleth… Maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps this is the only kind of leader I know how to be. Perhaps I shouldn't expect you to be the same kind of leader that I am. After all, I chose to take my ability to invent and create things to create something that destroys. You are chosing to make your skill to destroy to create instead. But no matter what, you do have to earn whatever power you have over your domain. You can't do that laying on the floor. Honestly, though, there aren't any easy answers when it comes down how to rule your people.” Her head bobbed in acceptance. “And no matter what, me and the rest of Vox Machina will be there to guide you or support you, no matter what.”

Keyleth breathed out a laugh. “I know that Percy… But thank you.” She scootched back closer to him, resting her head easily on his shoulder. In all the time that Percy had known Keyleth, in all the time he'd spent in close quarters with her, she'd never gored anyone with her antlers. Not even accidentally. He couldn't help but marvel over it sometimes.

He tucked her head under his chin after a moment and patted her on the back. “Of course, what are friends for?” Percy grinned wryly as she chuckled. “I'd be very lonely if you just laid here for the rest of your life, doing nothing. And I'm telling you, it'll be you and I, bailing out our friends for the rest of our time in the Feywild. _We_ learn from past experience. Scanlan and Grog, however, are debating whether or not to run into the cave tomorrow. They've learned absolutely nothing. I look forward to it.”

Keyleth shook her head with a laugh before yawning.

“We should be getting to bed soon. We've a long day of walking ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Yes,” Keyleth agreed, but she didn't shift away. “It's quiet out there – I think everyone else went to sleep already. Scanlan said something about giving Garmelie his own room, though he's being watched by most of the servants.” She yawned again. “I almost want to sleep right here.”

“Speaking of Garmelie,” Percy said, voice tight. “I've been meaning to ask you...” He pulled away from her and gave her look, just a little pleading.

“His fur was so coarse! Not unlike a,” she turned him, looking more awake. “Here, I can't beastshape _into_ a satyr – but with Alter Self I know I can get the fur just _right_ for you to feel -,”

“No, no, that's excellent,” he stopped her quickly before she could start transforming into whatever she had planned. “Just knowing is enough… And the tobacco box?”

“The tobacco box?” Keyleth repeated, distracted from polymorphing herself some fur as she fumbled to take the box out from her she had tucked it. “Well, there isn't any tobacco left, but it was used and from what I can smell the tobacco is the same as any fround from back in Tal'dorei… But I can smell traces of herbs they've mixed in, but nothing I recognize. One is similar to cinnamon, maybe but not quite… well, it' all only for the taste and smell, I'm sure - do you want to try smelling it?”

He didn't answer, merely accepted the tobacco box when she offered it and flipped the hinged lid and inhaled the empty contents of the box.

Percy grinned widely which Keyleth readily returned. “I can definitely smell what you're talking about… it isn't cinnamon but it's close. Thank you, this is brilliant.”

Her grin widened and she made a low and giddy laugh that Percy couldn't help but join in with. It was just the two of them after all, there no where safer to share his excitement of the Feywild than shut in that room with just Keyleth.

**Author's Note:**

> I meant this to be mostly Percy and Keyleth nerding out about the Feywild, but their self-loathing crept in... Anyway, I slipped in a bunch of my own headcannons and ended up leaving out stuff I meant to put in... oh well...
> 
> I haven't successfully written in past tense in a while, so hopefully it came off okay. Also, Percy's voice is hard for me to capture, so I hope I did him justice.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
